What is JOCAP? JOCAP is an acronym that was selected so it would be easily remembered -- Joint Officials Coaches Abuse Panel (JOCAP). 

This panel was created to put an end to the copious amount of verbal abuse that coaches, players, parents and fans inflict on the officials in our game. This panel has a dozen people on it - six from the BC Lacrosse Officials Group and six from the BC Lacrosse Coaches Group. 

JOCAP's mandate, as directed by both the BC Lacrosse Officials and Coaches Technical Support Groups during the 2015 Special Sessions Joint Session, is for both the officials and coaches sectors to work together to identity why there is so much abuse and to find solutions to this ongoing issue. Strong recommendations have been made to the Directorates for suspensions to help eliminate the abuse.

The system is broken and this ongoing cycle of abuse must now end. Times have changed. No longer can coaches use the excuse "Back in the day, my coach yelled and screamed at the referees so now it my turn". It is no longer acceptable behaviour to use profanity, use rude gestures, or threaten or intimidate a referee. Respect is a vital part of the game and it must be displayed by everyone or the game will simply not grow. 

We are losing officials at an alarming rate and what really hurts all of us is that we are losing the high level referees who have said they have had enough of the abuse. They don't like the way they are being treated in the game so who can any one blame them for leaving? Why would anyone place themselves in an environment where they are not having fun?

Last year there were death threats, RCMP having to escort referees to the parking lot and players going the referees' homes to physically assault them. On top of that, there was constant bullying and the most horrific things said on social media about officials.

We have hit an all time low. We are destroying our game. We are in a crisis situation for referee availability. We struggled to get referees to officiate regular season games, begged referees to do double duty for play off games and had bare bones for referees to do provincials. We were forced to place referees in games over their heads which made the situation uncomfortable for everyone. This is not fair to the players, the coaches or the officials.

After many meetings, to sum it all up, the common denominators are coaches showing the bad behaviour and the players emulate their coaches with bad behaviour. The parents see this display so they think it is acceptable. On the flip side, the referees do not call penalties because they are too young and inexperienced or the seasoned veteran is told to have thicker skin. 

For 2016, coaches will coach, players will play and referees will officiate the game. Everyone has their role in the game. No longer can a coach embarrass, humiliate, swear or be aggressive toward any official. This type of behaviour distracts the officials from doing their job on the floor and it is a safety concern for the players. 

The referees have been instructed to call it early and often. For information of what the Referees are being instructed to call, please visit the BCLA Website homepage scroll bar - www.bclacrosse.com.